The performance of a new biological water quality score system based on macroinvertebrates over a wide range of unpolluted running-water sites

Armitage, Patrick D.; Moss, D.; Wright, J. F.; Furse, M.T.

doi:10.1016/0043-1354(83)90188-4

Cited by 915 publications

(664 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…It was found that qualitative family level data provided an adequate classification for use in routine biomonitoring (Table 6). Similar results have been obtained by many, including Furse et al (1981), Armitage et al (1983), Castella et al (1995), Dallas (1995) and Zamora-Munoz and Alba-Tercedor (1996), indicating that, despite the opinion of some authors (Growns et al, 1995), the necessary information about water quality can be provided by qualitative family level data.…”

Section: Effect Of Taxonomic Resolution and Quantification On The Accsupporting

confidence: 64%

Efficiency of the SASS4 rapid bioassessment protocol in determining river health: a case study on the Mhlathuze River, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Vos¹,

Wepener²,

Cyrus³

2004

WSA

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The purpose of the study was to verify the ability of the South African Scoring System version 4 (SASS4), to assess the health of aquatic ecosystems. The macroinvertebrate community attributes of the Mhlathuze River (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) were studied by applying the SASS4 rapid bioassessment method. In testing the effect of spatial and temporal variability in community structure on SASS4 scores it was found that there was a stronger spatial than a temporal effect. It was determined that of the indices used in association with SASS4, the biotic indices (average score per taxon, total score and number of taxa) reflected changes in community structure, but the abiotic habitat quality index did not. It was found that qualitative family-level data provided an adequate classification of sites for use in routine biomonitoring. Ambiguous results were obtained with respect to the importance of measuring abundance during routine biomonitoring. No definite conclusion with respect to the ability of the SASS4 to reflect physical-chemical water quality changes could be drawn from the results obtained in this study. SASS4 was able to reflect the effect of the tidal push from the Mhlathuze Estuary, but this marine influence probably masked less pronounced effects exerted by the remainder of the physical-chemical variables that were investigated.

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Section: Effect Of Taxonomic Resolution and Quantification On The Accsupporting

confidence: 64%

Efficiency of the SASS4 rapid bioassessment protocol in determining river health: a case study on the Mhlathuze River, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Vos¹,

Wepener²,

Cyrus³

2004

WSA

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“…The sampling sites were well distributed spatially, and the coverage was roughly the same for France, Slovakia and Estonia (1 site for 140 to 270 km 2 of land area), but denser for UK (1 site for 33 km 2 ). In Estonia, the index used was the Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT), which is based on family-level data (Armitage et al, 1983). The ASPT is a rather robust indicator able to reflect general degradation.…”

Section: Biological Datasetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large‐scale relationships between basin and riparian land cover and the ecological status of European rivers

et al. 2010

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SUMMARY1 -The study of large-scale pressure-impact relationships involves questions of hierarchy and scales. Answers to these questions will help managers define priorities for action to achieve the 'good ecological status' required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD).The main objectives of our study were 1) to establish the relative impact of pressures that degrade ecological status, especially those caused by agriculture and urbanization, 2) to identify regional patterns in these pressure-impact relationships and 3) to evaluate the relative weight of the pressures acting at the basin and riparian corridor scales, and the possible buffering effect of riparian areas.2 -We developed large-scale models linking invertebrate indices of ecological quality to river basin and riparian land cover in France, Slovakia, Estonia and UK. Invertebrate indices, transformed to Ecological Quality Ratios (EQR), were taken from national monitoring networks. We based the models on Partial Least Squares (PLS) regressions at national and a hydro-ecoregion (HER) scales. The HERs provided a framework for grouping data in terms of natural river features and human activities.3 -The different national methods provided consistent results that indicated the hierarchy of pressures impacting river invertebrates at the European scale. The most salient result was that artificial land cover (e.g. urban and industrial sites) in the river basin represented the pressure with the most negative impact on invertebrate indices, in all countries and regions.Author-produced version of the final draft post-refeering, the original publication is available at Freshwater Biology, 55: 1465-1482. doi: 10.1111/j. 1365-2427.2010.02443.x 4 -The impact of agricultural land cover was more variable. Arable land had a smaller impact than urban areas, and it was even insignificant in some models. The impact of vineyards depended on the natural geographical context. The effect of pastures seemed to be related to the intensity of the livestock they carried. These results supported the concept of regional pathologies for river ecosystems, as land use and anthropogenic influences are closely linked to physical landscape features. The proportion of arable land in the river basin appeared to be a weak predictor of agricultural impacts by itself; the type of cultivation and intensity as well as the proximity to the river must be taken into account.5 -At the riparian corridor scale, the negative impact of artificial areas or arable land and the positive effects of forests and pastures were demonstrated in many regions. The protective effect of riparian forests against mixed agricultural and urban pressures was demonstrated in three regions in France. Riparian corridors appear to be manageable areas, and these results strongly support the idea of including their restoration in priority actions for achieving good ecological status.

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“…The scores of the IBMWP (0 ->100) have been grouped in 5 quality classes [30]. Other index as NFAM (number of families) and IASPT (Iberian Average Score per Taxon) [26,32] were also obtained. The Equivalent Quality Ratio (EQR) was obtained [33,34].…”

Section: Environmental Parameters Water Status Indicators and Qualitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of the Water Quality Status on a Stretch of River Lérez around a Small Hydroelectric Power Station

Valero

2012

Water

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The renewable energy emerged as a solution to the environmental problems caused by the conventional sources of energy. Small hydropower (SHP) is claimed to cause negligible effects on the ecosystem, although some environmental values are threatened and maintenance of an adequate water quality should be ensured. This work provides a characterization of the water quality status in a river stretch around a SHP plant on river Lérez, northwest Spain, for four years after its construction. The ecological and chemical status of the water as well as the ecological quality of the riparian habitat, were used as measures of quality. Data were compared with the water quality requirements. The variations in the quality parameters were analyzed over time and over the river sections with respect to the SHP plant elements. Two years after construction, the temperature and dissolved oxygen values achieved conditions for salmonid water and close to the reference condition, while pH values were low. The Iberian Biological Monitoring Working Party (IBMWP) index showed a positive trend from two years after the construction and stabilized at "unpolluted or not considerably altered water". Quality parameters did not present significant differences between sampling points. The SHP plant construction momentarily altered the quality characteristics of the water.

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The performance of a new biological water quality score system based on macroinvertebrates over a wide range of unpolluted running-water sites

Cited by 915 publications

References 17 publications

Efficiency of the SASS4 rapid bioassessment protocol in determining river health: a case study on the Mhlathuze River, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Efficiency of the SASS4 rapid bioassessment protocol in determining river health: a case study on the Mhlathuze River, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Large‐scale relationships between basin and riparian land cover and the ecological status of European rivers

Characterization of the Water Quality Status on a Stretch of River Lérez around a Small Hydroelectric Power Station

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